Dramatization of the expedition made by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the land from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Emerson Film Corp.
Sponsor: N/A
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: U.S. History: Westward expansion

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Glen Hills - - February 18, 2011
Subject: The Romance of History
Who knew Mr. Thomas Jefferson had a bone for his secretary, Mr. M. Lewis?

Reviewer: Larry Cebula - - May 28, 2009
Subject: I Love this Movie!
I am a historian of the American West and I love this movie. Not because it is historically accurate or anything--it isn't--but because it is so wonderfully cheesy. I blogged about it here:
http://northwesthistory.blogspot.com/2007/08/lewis-and-clark-showdown-part-1.html

Reviewer: Film Fan - - June 6, 2004
Subject: Decent, But Beware
A pretty good retelling of the Lewis and Clark expedition. There is some mild stereotyping, but the treatment of Sacajawea makes me cringe.

The two principal actors are good; some of the others in the ensemble are not. The actor who (briefly, thank goodness) plays "Paddy" is particularly bad. Mention has been made that the black character is stereotyped. I disagree. The actor appears very briefly and delivers his one, innocuous line rather poorly making him look bad.

The treatment of Sacajawea is another story. Her abuse may be accurate and occurs offscreen, but it is disturbing nonetheless. We meet her as the wife of Charbonneau, a frenchman who rescued her from a tribe who abducted her. She was property to them and apparently not much more than that to her French husband. Lewis and Clark comment that she bears the marks of Charbonneau's beatings. His response? "Well...I have my shortcomings." Ouch! They later discover that Sacajawea is related to Indian royalty, but she still is "only a squaw." At one point, L&C refer to Charbonneau as "Squawman."

Otherwise, this film plays like a very brief 50s TV western. It moves rather quickly and is quite interesting.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - September 25, 2003
Subject: (does not star Dean Cain)
A somewhat interesting document of Lewis and Clark's journey out west. Egged on by Thomas Jefferson, the 2 discovered and mapped out the west, helping to shape the United States. Good acting by the two leads, but will turn people off by the very odd stereotyping of indians and blacks (yeah yeah, you say, but indians were treated as such during that time. Well, then, were blacks acting like that too?) Other then that point, quite historical for people who just thought Lewis And Clark was a TV show about Superman in the 1990's.

Shotlist

The story of the expedition made by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the land from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast. Follows their party up the Mississippi River up to Mandan Indian territory in North Dakota where they establish winter camp. Portrays their meeting with Frenchman Charbonneau and his Indian wife Sacajawea who became their guides. Continues with them across the northern Rockies and down the Columbia River to its mouth. Reveals detail of scientific exploration with regards to topography, natural resources, and plant and animal life.


Exploration Manifest destiny
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